A colorful character, farewell

Wearing a tie-died T-shirt to most funerals would be a glaring faux pas, but friends and family said it was just what Bill Cady would have wanted.

“He wanted to be the most colorful character he could be,” said his son Will, 21. “He wore his identity on the outside.”

Christian Schiavone

Wearing a tie-died T-shirt to most funerals would be a glaring faux pas, but friends and family said it was just what Bill Cady would have wanted.

“He wanted to be the most colorful character he could be,” said his son Will, 21. “He wore his identity on the outside.”

About 200 people packed the Congregation Beth Elohim synagogue June 26, many garbed in brightly colored shirts, sandals and shorts, in honor of Cady, who was known as much for his colorful attire as for his volunteerism in the community he loved.

Cady was well-known around town for his instrumental role in contributing to new town projects like Danny’s Place youth center and the T.J. O’Grady Skate Park and for his thoughtful and often humorous remarks on the floor of Town Meeting.

He died June 24 of heart failure at Emerson Hospital. He was 56.

Born in Boston in 1951, Cady moved to Acton at the age of 4. He graduated from Acton-Boxborough Regional High School and earned a degree in natural resource economics at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 1974.

After graduating, Cady moved back to Acton, where he met his wife, Wallis, on the platform of the South Acton train station while on his way to work as an economist for Charles Main of Boston. The couple was married on top of Mount Washington at dawn on Independence Day, 1976.

Cady liked to say that he was in the 38th year of his 18th birthday, and he had a youthful spirit those who know him say people gravitated toward. He loved animals, cooking and music.

Music was an integral part of Cady’s life. He was a devoted fan of bands like Phish, the Grateful Dead and Pink Floyd.

“He kept Woodstock alive for all of us,” said Rabbi Lewis Mintz during the service.

Will Cady said his father loved to connect with other veterans of the ’60s generation.

“At concerts he would seek out other aging hippies and talk about how they were the 1 percent who survived the ’60s,” said Will.

On display in the hall of the synagogue was Cady’s trademark denim jacket, bleached pale blue by the sun and covered with patches, one proclaiming “Remember Jerry.”

Will, who is a student at Berklee College of Music, said his father’s love of music is what led him to pursue a career as a musician.

“Music, that’s something that he gave to me. He showed me what music is with our lives together,” he said.

Cady also had a nearly lifelong interest in spirituality and religion. Raised a Baptist, in his late teens he explored his Native American heritage and at 20 went on a Hopi Vision Quest. At the age of 44, he converted to Judaism, his wife’s faith, and was ordained as a Mayan Spiritual Guide in Mexico in 2001.

Most recently, Cady was ordained as a Rinzai Zen Buddhist priest and began teaching meditation.

“He described [spirituality] as a labyrinth and he took every possible way to the center,” said Will.

Cady didn’t just dabble in various faiths; he immersed himself in them. He studied for three years before having his adult bar mitzvah.

“Bill doesn’t do things just part way,” said Mintz, who officiated over Bill’s conversion and bar mitzvah

Cady was also well known and respected throughout Acton for his community activism. He helped found Danny’s Place in honor of Danny McCarthy, a friend of his son’s who was killed in a car accident in 2003. Cady also served on the center’s steering committee, and organized the Battle of the Bands benefit concerts to raise money for the center.

Cady worked with the Acton Citizen Action Team on various projects, including a drive to collect supplies and computer equipment for survivors of Hurricane Katrina last winter.

“Bill was a very generous and kind person,” Terra Friedrichs, a co-founder of CAT who worked with Cady, said in an e-mail. “[He was] a cheerful sort of guy that could bring a smile to your face no matter what the circumstances.”

Cady’s interest in the community led him to become a fixture at Town Meeting, where he earned respect for his easygoing attitude and support for town projects like the new Public Safety Facility.

“He always interjected a brighter sort of tone for the meeting,” said Selectmen Chairman Doré Hunter. “The town’s lost a piece of color. Bill will be missed at Town Meeting.”

Cady’s activism reached beyond Acton’s borders, as well. He founded the 1-Blue Planet Foundation and worked to bring access to clean water to developing countries.

“Some people sit around and talk about what they’d like to do. He did it,” said Jan Selman, Cady’s cousin.

Selman said that Cady was especially close to his family and that they considered each other siblings more than cousins.